Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, October 17, 2009

For anybody who doubted whether the Lee volleyball team could compete with the top two teams in District 2-5A, the Lady Rebels erased those doubts.

Amarillo Tascosa, which had already clinched a playoff berth along with Amarillo High and was trying to cement its standing as the No. 2 seed in the district, found itself in a fight as Lee dominated in Game 4 to force the fifth and deciding game.

Unfortunately for Lee, Tascosa found its footing just in time as the Lady Rebs of Tascosa defeated the Lady Rebs of Lee 21-25, 25-18, 25-19, 23-25, 15-6.

“It definitely was a game of energy,” Tascosa coach Scott Sandel said. “Whatever team had the energy was the team that won the game at the time and we fortunately had enough energy to get a win.”

For Lee, this was the second consecutive five-game match it has played, but the Lady Rebels didn’t show any fatigue.

Trailing two-games-to-one in Game 4, Lee was showing all of the energy as if the match had just started. Thanks to a combination of hard hits and Tascosa errors, Lee jumped out to a big lead.

Catherine Warren started the game out with a kill followed by a Tascosa error as Lee took a 2-0 lead.

Another kill by Warren followed by two hits into the net by Tascosa gave Lee a 6-3 lead. The Lady Rebels eventually stretched that lead out to as large as 16-7 before Tascosa rallied and cut the deficit down to one.

Lee (24-14, 10-5 in District 2-5A), won the game with the aid of a Tascosa serve that went out of bounds that made the score 25-23.

“In Game 1 and Game 4, the games that we won, we got touches on the ball and we passed a lot better,” Lee coach Diane Sandoval said. “In the games that we lost, we didn’t pass the ball well so we couldn’t generate any offense.”

One of the reasons why the Lady Rebels remained in the match was the play of libero Jamey Lane who spent most of the match on the floor digging balls. She collected a match-high 28 digs.

“My mom tells me, ‘Don’t think about it, just react,’” Lane said. “So I was just reacting to whatever came my way. No matter how hard it was, I was just hoping to get there.”

Added Sandoval, “Our timing on our block wasn’t as good as it has been in our previous matches and Tascosa had a lot to do with that. They were jumping over us. We’re not that tall. Jamey was getting hands on balls that should have been kills.”

For Tascosa (13-2, 21-8), this was the second five-game set they have played in three matches but it always seems to find its best play in Game 5.

On Oct. 10, Midland High forced Tascosa to a Game 5 but Tascosa jumped out to a 9-2 lead before hanging on for a 15-12 win.

“In Game 5, we just try to stay good and aggressive,” Sandel said. “We lost one against Odessa (High) earlier in the year. We were just too passive. Now, no matter what the end result is going to be, we’ve got to be good and aggressive.